


An Unexpected Encounter

by codenametargeter



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: I'm just really invested in the Katooni joining Hondo's pirate gang theory, It's really only Space Married in an established relationship and doesn't come up much way, Jedi in hiding, Space Pirates, Takes place post-Blood Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-15 01:55:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8037643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/codenametargeter/pseuds/codenametargeter
Summary: It'd been enough of a surprise when Ahsoka Tano had turned out to be alive.  Kanan definitely wasn't expecting to find another member of the Jedi Order so soon and definitely not amongst Hondo Ohnaka's pirate gang.





	An Unexpected Encounter

Kanan was grumpy. Grumpy felt like it had become his default emotion lately. First, Ahsoka had sent them after clones for help. Clones. And now Hera had decided to do business with Hondo Ohnaka again even though Ezra’s last dealing with him hadn’t gone terribly smoothly. The only positive thus far was that at least it seemed like Hondo wasn’t going to turn them over to the Inquisitors for being Jedi any time soon… for now at least. (He really needed to chat with Ezra about not using his lightsaber every five minutes…)  
  
“Relax.” He turned even as Hera placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “We’ve dealt with people like Hondo before.”   
  
“I don’t trust him.”  
  
“You don’t have to,” she replied. “That’s why we have backup.”  
  
He didn’t look towards where Sabine was hidden amongst the crowd but he did reach out through the Force to confirm that she was there. The Mandalorian might not be Force sensitive but after flying with this crew for years, Kanan could pick any of them out of crowd almost instantly using nothing but the Force. Reassurance was short lived though as something else caught his attention… a presence he hadn’t felt in a long time but couldn’t quite identify. It was familiar yet different. “There’s something not right,” he said tersely.  
  
Hera straightened instantly, eyes scanning the crowd. “Imperials?”  
  
Kanan shook his head. “No, something different. I’m not sure if it’s trouble or—”  
  
“My friends!” There was no mistaking the unique enthusiasm of Hondo Ohnaka’s greeting as the weequay made his way through the crowd followed by a dark skinned young woman who appeared to be around Kanan’s age. “Have you decided to join my pirate crew?”  
  
“I already have my own ship,” Hera reminded him with a poorly hidden smile.  
  
Hondo shrugged. “So your ship joins my pirate crew and then I get to be a Commodore!”  
  
“I think we’ll stick to business.”  
  
Kanan only half heard their banter, blue-green eyes narrowing as he studied the woman before him. It was strange to see a tholothian amongst pirates but not entirely unheard of. Her style of dressed veered on the flashy side of smuggler but that wasn’t surprising for someone who associated with Hondo. He probably had someone on retainer who made jackets like that. Where had he seen her before? Kaller? Gorse? (No not Gorse.) Nar Shaddaa? He couldn’t place the planet but something about her felt so familiar. Wait. Had he slept with her? A faint flush came to his cheeks before he pushed that thought away quickly. He would’ve remembered that. Probably.  
  
Hera nodded towards Hondo’s companion. “Are you going to introduce us to your crew?”  
  
The woman stepped forward and extended her hand even as Hondo watched the interaction with uncharacteristic quiet. “Kaz Ohnaka.”  
  
“Hera Syndulla. And this is my partner Kan—”  
  
The realization hit him like a ton of bricks and he barely whispered a name he hadn’t thought of in ages. “Katooni.”  
  
She stiffened and he knew he was right especially after a blaster appeared in her hand pointed right at him. Almost before he could react, Hondo put a hand on her shoulder. “Think of the profit! We can’t all be rich if we’re dead!” Her blaster stayed level. “We’ll shoot them first if there’s trouble later.”  
  
Hera had placed herself between Kanan and the woman who he knew was the Katooni he’d grown up with at the Jedi Temple. "No one's shooting anyone. Let's discuss this somewhere more private."  
  
Reluctantly, Katooni lowered her blaster and shoved it back into the holster. "Fine. Pay us for the cargo first."  
  
The twi'lek stood her ground. "Half now, half later."  
  
She won, of course but Kanan's mind was parsecs away as they headed back to the _Ghost_. He'd been so sure for years that no one had escaped the Jedi Temple. It seemed impossible that she could be there and yet there she was. There was no chance for awkward silence once the _Ghost_ 's boarding ramp closed as Hondo instantly slung his arms around both Hera and Kanan's shoulders. "You see? I told you that I liked the Jedi!"  
  
Kanan ignored him. "How did you escape the clones? I saw the holofootage; they had the Temple surrounded."  
  
Katooni narrowed her eyes and gestured for Hondo to move away. "Tell me who you are first."  
  
He extended a hand. "Kanan. Kanan Jarrus."  
  
"Tell me your real name." He hesitated, trying to ignore the worried look that Hera sent his way. "You already know mine; it's only fair."  
  
It took another moment for Kanan to respond and when he did, his voice was barely above a whisper. "Caleb Dume."  
  
"Master Billaba's padawan?" He nodded as she finally reached out to shake his hand. "You look different."  
  
"So do you." She really did. There wasn't even the slightest trace of a Jedi in how she dressed now from the red jacket that just screamed pirate to the twin blasters on either hip. The only thing that had stayed the same was seedpod headdress characteristic of her people even though it was now held back with a red bandana.   
  
"It happens." Katooni gestured towards his belt. "You kept your lightsaber?"  
  
Kanan nodded again. "Didn't you?"  
  
"Of course not. That would've been a dead giveaway." There was more than a touch condescension in her voice as she fiddled with her necklace. "I wanted to survive."  
  
It was his turn to be condescending. "So you went to a pirate for help?"  
  
"I found you in a bar, dear," Hera muttered out of the corner of her mouth even as Hondo and Katooni both shrugged.  
  
The weequay actually looked offended. "Hondo is a lot of things but he doesn't send children to their deaths."  
  
Katooni cleared her throat. "Except for that one time."  
  
"No one died, you were fine!"  
  
Perceptive as ever, Hera glanced between the two Jedi and placed a firm hand on Hondo's shoulder. "How about we go discuss our next deal for supplies and let them talk?"  
  
Surprisingly, the weequay quietly acquiesced and follow her up the ladder towards the galley, leaving the two former Jedi alone. The silence hung between them for a long minute before Kanan finally broke it. "So. Katooni."  
  
She flinched. "Don't call me that. My name is Kaz now."  
  
"Sorry. Kaz. Why Ohnaka?"  
  
"Are you talking about Hondo or his--"  
  
"--his name."  
  
"I needed a last name and he offered his. Said it was a good way to get his mother off his back about kids." Kanan choked on air at the mere thought of Hondo Ohnaka with children and Kaz grinned. "Yeah, I know. One Hondo is enough for this galaxy." There was a pause. "His mother is nice though."  
  
He felt a pang of some emotions he couldn't quite identify. "So you had a family then."  
  
She laughed. "We're pirates, Kanan. Family doesn't go with the territory. He gave me his last name because it was handy and it fit with the eccentric thing he's got going on but he certainly hasn't been like a father to me. He’s my captain." Silence made its awkward return for a few long minutes before she cleared her throat. “How did you make it?”  
 

Kanan simply said, “I was lucky.”  
 

“We were all lucky,” Katooni said shortly. “I got out through the tunnels in the lower levels of the Temple. Stole away on a ship before they locked the planet down and made it to Nar Shaddaa and waited there until one of Hondo’s ships came through.”  
 

“And you trusted him?”  
 

“What did I have to lose? My life?” She had a point. “What about you?”  
 

With a pained look, his gaze shifted down. “Our clones turned against us when Order 66 came down. My Master sacrificed herself so I could have a chance. She told me to run so I ran and then I kept running.”  
 

She nodded towards the rest of the ship. “It doesn’t look like you’re still running.”  
  


He swallowed hard. “Found a reason to stop and then a few more found me. Actually, one of them might be of interest to you.” She raised a questioning eyebrow. “I have an apprentice.”  
 

It was if a strong wind had suddenly blown through the cargo hold and taken the Katooni he almost remembered away. Everything about her demeanor changed and she gritted her teeth. “You have an apprentice.”  
 

“Yeah, he found me by accident,” Kanan said with a half grin. “I didn’t exactly go looking for him. Could use your help with--”  
 

“No.”  
  


“You’re one of the only people I can ask.”

   
“No.”

   
He stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Kaz, he needs to be trained and there’s so much I don’t know.”

   
“No!” she snapped a third time, pushing him away with such force that he wondered if the Force wasn’t behind it. “If you have a death wish, that’s fine but you’re not going to get me killed too.”  
 

With a shrug, he took a step back. “It’s not like what we do is exactly safe.”  
 

Katooni folded her arms across her chest. “There’s a difference between skirting the Empire as a pirate and running up and shoving the Force in their faces. If you don’t get that, I’m surprised you’re still alive.”  
 

“We’ve had a few close calls,” Kanan admitted, “but it’s nothing that this crew couldn’t handle.”  
 

“The Empire has a score of Inquisitors, ” she hissed, “maybe more. All of them are trained in the Force.”  
 

He shrugged again. “Yeah, I know. We already killed their leader and Ezra’s faced two new ones. Ahsoka thinks—”  
 

“Ahsoka?” Katooni’s eyebrows raised along with her voice. “Ahsoka Tano?”  
 

“You knew her?” Kanan could’ve smacked himself for such a stupid question. Of course Katooni knew who she was. Everyone knew who General Skywalker’s padawan was.

“Do you know about the Sith?”  
 

Reflexively, he winced. His shoulder armor still bore the mark from Vader’s lightsaber. “We almost didn’t make it out alive.”  
 

“Let me get this straight then,” she said, freeing her hands so she could tick each item off on a finger. “You kept your lightsaber, you’ve fought the Inquisitors, you’re training a padawan, you know there’s a Sith Lord out there, _and_ you’ve gathered together three Force sensitives in the same place?”  
 

“I… yeah.”  
 

“You are an idiot, Caleb Dume!” Katooni exclaimed, suddenly looking like the girl he remembered. “Your master died so you could live and here you are challenging death to come find you!”  
 

He sucked his breath in. “That’s not fair.”  
 

“Life isn’t fair. This galaxy hasn’t been fair since Order 66.”  
 

“Things are changing,” Kanan pleaded, all the glee he’d felt from finally encountering another Jedi rapidly dwindling. “It isn’t like it was right after the Clone Wars. There’s a chance now. We have to fight back. I didn’t want to join the Rebellion either but—”  
 

“No. I don’t.”  
 

“As Jedi, we have a responsibility to—”  
  


She cut him off again. “There’s no we, Kanan. If you want to run around waving your lightsaber and playing the hero, fine. Me? I like living. Hondo!” The pirate’s face appeared almost immediately. “Are we done here yet?”  
 

“Weeeeell, there are a few more ideas I’d like to propose,” Hondo said before taking in her expression and climbing back down the ladder. “But those can wait!”  
 

Hera soon followed. “Everything okay?”  
 

“Your boyfriend has a death wish,” Katooni spat out.   “I can respect what you’re doing with this Rebellion but I won’t join it and I won’t become a Jedi again. I barely survived one war.” She slapped the ramp mechanism, impatiently waiting while the boarding ramp slowly lowered. “Good luck. You’re going to need it if you and Ahsoka Tano are taking on the Sith.”    
 

And then she was gone.  
 

Hondo looked between his crewmember and those of the Ghost before shrugging again. “Send someone by the docking bay to pick up the goods.” He glanced towards Katooni’s retreating back. “Maybe not my friend Ezra.”  
 

“I’ll send Sabine,” Hera said.  
 

“Good, good!” Hondo said decisively with a little wave. “We will talk more later, my friends!”  
  


Kanan groaned and slumped against the wall as soon as the pirate was gone. “Well that went well.”  
  


“Give her time,” Hera said reassuringly, resting her hand on his shoulder. “She might come around. You did.”  
  


“No,” Kanan said pensively, still looking out the ramp. “I really don’t think she will.”


End file.
